Elite, Gems destroy foes

PICKING up from last week’s lessons, Blackwater Sports took off early and stayed ahead for good to forge an 89-73 triumph over Informatics yesterday in the PBA D-League Foundation Cup at Filoil Flying V Arena.

The Elite, who had to play catchup in recent wins, came out in full control this time with big men Pari Llagas (18 points and 11 rebounds) and Justin Chua (15 points) powering them to their fourth victory in five outings.

Earlier, Cebuana Lhuillier got back on the winning track with an 84-62 blasting of newcomer Hog’s Breath Cafe.

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The Gems built a 20-point buffer by halftime on the way to third triumph as Alvin Padilla fueled an early surge by drilling half of his 18 points in the second quarter.

Gab Banal also shot 14 and Paul Zamar added 12 for the Gems, who blew an 18-point lead in their 80-87 loss to the Elite last week.

“This win is huge for us because we don’t want to lose back-to-back and so we could stay in contention in the playoff race,” said Gems coach Beaujing Acot.

The Razorbacks had to do without Kevin Racal for most of the game as the Letran standout sustained a knee injury in the first period.